I have tried to visualize your situation with the mods you have made, but I'm missing a piece or two. I may be incorrect, but I believe you have somehow machined a set of wheels that were not originally designed for your vehicle, made them fit somehow, and mounted the tires of your choice, in this case the BFG's.
Hopefully I got this right. If so, and with absolutely no disrespect, make sure (you probably already have) that you have checked these two situations:

1. You have mounted the rims -only- on your vehicle and verified with a dial indicator that they are running radially true within a few thousandths. (outside circumference, dial indicator reading against the bead seat surface)

2. You have mounted the same indicator in such a way to verify they are within .005 side-to-side (axial) runout.

Lastly, when you get your beads, before you install them, drive the vehicle at a predetermined speed on a flat road that will introduce the vibration you are speaking of.

Next, start with 8 oz apiece, don't forget the valve cores, pump 'er up, and take it for a ride over the same course, same speed.
If you've made noticable progress, but you still have a vibration, add another 2 or 3 oz's per wheel. Don't try to isolate it to one particular wheel, use the same amount in all. If one of them needs ony 6 oz's to balance itself, the remainder of the beads will position themselves equally around the inside circumference as needed.

I realize this is a lot of work, but you have a highly customized application, complete with made-to-fit wheels. This may well necessitate some experimentation to get things right.

I for one, and probably the rest of the respondents, will surely be interested in how you make out.

Good luck,
Robert

 

Here's some more info for you to be filed under FWIW...

http://www.trucktires.com/us_eng/tec...e_runout_b.asp

Robert

 

Racsw,

Again, I appreciate the advice. You are correct in that I did modify the wheels to fit my truck. The wheels came with the tires mounted and were take-offs from a GM Hummer H2. The only modification that I did was the manual drilling and filing of the wheel hubs to open them up an additional 1/8 inch. The bolt pattern is the same. The wheels were brand new when I received them with the rubber injection nubs still present. I haven't done any serious 4 wheeling or hit any curbs so I am somewhat confident that the wheels are true.

I am also relying on the fact that this set-up ran pretty smoothly before I had the wheels balanced. In my mind, the vibration probably is the result of one of two possibilities. Number one, incorrect balancing or number two, improper centering on the axle hub itself.

I suspect that the balancing is the primary reason for my vibrations due to two reasons. First, the vibrations are not apparent below 45 mph. I would think that if I had a high/low spot in the tire, I would notice it at all speeds. Second, the vibration was lessened when I removed some of the balancing weights myself.

When the tires were factory balanced and running smoothly, they each had approximately 2 ozs of weight on each tire. I was thinking I would start with 4 ozs of beads in each tire and increase as necessary. I did read on one website that they flatly recommend 6 ozs for a 35-12.50-16 which was the closest size to my 315/70/17's. My thought was it will be easier to add more beads than remove them, but there may be significant labor involved to do this more than a couple times. If there is no downside to having excess beads in the tires, I may go with 6 ozs right away.

 

Starting with 6 oz. would not be a problem and it would save you some work.
I would not avoid taking the time, however, to check one wheel to make sure it is running true on the axle. Just to eliminate that possibility as a problem source.

Good luck,
Robert

 

Man, I haven't seen a load of bull like that since the last time I was on a cattle ranch! What a moron... if that were true, then the aftermarket wheel business would look a lot different than it does now. If you've ever bought a set of aftermarket wheels, then you know what I'm talking about... Wheels are selected by sizes, bolt patterns, backspacing and weight ratings. You don't just walk in and say "I'd like to have a set of wheels for my Dodge Ram" and then they whip out a set of "Dodge Ram" specific wheels... no, they have to look up what size your stockers are, then cross reference the chosen wheel's sizes and bolt patterns to see if they can find an application that will work on your vehicle, it's usually a custom affair. For instance, when I bought wheels for my Jeep, they happened to fit ½-Ton Fords, as well as others... they didn't tell me that they couldn't balance them because they were not made specifically just for my Jeep. What I'm getting at is that in many, many cases, the same wheel can work on many different vehicles without problem... if they are balanced properly, then they should yield a smooth ride on anything they're bolted up to, however, if they are out of balance due to lousy balancing jobs, they will shake on anything you bolt them up to as well.

It has nothing to do with the wheels coming from the H2 being put on your Ram... if that were the case, all of us with this combo would have the same prob. I am really disappointed in DT and their attitude towards helping you... it makes me embarrassed to say that I ever used to work for them... at least back then, they were turning out quality work. Hope the beads help... let us know.

 

I agree. I would use EQUAL. This is a powder that comes in a bag. You just throw the bag in the tire (inside MUST be dry) and install tire onto the Rim. No weights or anything. I am currently running 315 x 75 x 16 and have put about 1500 miles on the tires without a problem. Last year, I had 305 x 70 x 16 and used external weights. That stayed balance for 2000 miles and then I could feel it started to shake again. I balanced them 3 times last year as the mileage added up. With the inside stuff (either powder or pellets) they say it will last the life time of the tire since it is always at the balance point.

Plus, rims looks much nicer WITHOUT and weights.

 

I used equal on my 35" bfg a/t"s and my 36" swampers, worked great both times. On the 35's use 8 ounces, anything up to 37 use 12 to 16 ounces.

 

You guys using Equal or Counteract really should check out http://www.innovativebalancing.com/index.html the ceramic Dyna Beads they sell are definitely better, no moisture worries, and about the same price.

 

As a former "Independent" Goodyear Tire Dealer it was my policy to replace any tire with .050" of runout. I did this for 2 reasons.
1) Goodyear would accept the tire return as defective
2) A tire with that much or more will shake.

A simple test is to run the vehicle up to the speed you notice the trouble- but do it with the tires off the ground.
If the trouble is still there then you have a balance and or runout problem.
If the trouble is not there with the tires off the ground but is on the road then its a runout problem.

As an independent we also sold other brands and the BFG A/T's we sold had more runout issues than other tires.
I am told they are much better today.

Nobody likes using the lug adapter...a real PITA but with modified wheel centers you are kinda stuck with it.

You need a tire shop that is willing to locate and remedy the trouble. In my shop we would dismount the tires, bolt the rims on your truck and measure runout.
Next mount the tires and measure runout, correct any excessive runout and THEN balance as the last thing.

 

Equal is an interesting product that has been around for many years. I have never tried it myself and did some searching to find info on it.
I finally found it here

 

I took a look at their site and something they said sounded odd:
If your tire hits a bad pothole or otherwise gets a severe jolt, this may loosen the beads from their original counterbalance position, in which case you may feel a vibration for a short period until the beads reestablish their correct counterbalance position.

I wonder what a short period is?

 

In my experience they will reseat again once you reach about 15 mph. I once hit a a bad bump at 75 mph, tires vibrated for less than 5 seconds till the beads went back in place. Hardly even realized what had happened by the time it was over, never slowed down.

It takes a pretty bad bump to knock them loose, the kind where I'd be more concerned about it messing up my alignment or bending something.

 

It's true Equal has been around for a long time, designed to be used in the tractor trailer rigs.
They are susceptable to moisture inside the tire, unlike the beads, which is why the normal installation involves the use of a compressor with an air dryer.
The high-density ceramic beads sold by www.innovativebalancing.com are 60% heavier than the old glass beads, which makes them more effective, and totally unaffected by any moisture in the tire.

 

I know years ago when I first looked into Equal it was not yet available for light truck tires and was susceptible to moisture in the tire but looks like they have made improvements as the plastic polymer granule won't absorb water and only large amounts of water will cause it to float around.

I see they now have "drop in" bags for new tire installs so no need for the install tool.

The high-density ceramic beads sounds like an excellent product also. One thing to realize with any of these "in tire" products is that a static balance on a machine will show it as out of balance so diagnosing a shake in the shop would require removal of the tires as they would definitely shake while spinning in the air, they need the road contact to work.

 

use the innovitave ceramic beads, i put 8 oz in my 315,s and they work great.